Flexibly usable box

ABSTRACT

A flexibly usable box includes a floor and four side walls opposite to each other in pairs which extend from the floor upwards in a vertical direction. One of the four side walls is configured as an opening wall which in a closed state completely covers a side surface area and is movable into an opened state in which the opening wall only covers a part of the side surface area such that the opening wall in the opened state at least partially covers one of the adjacent side walls or the floor of the box.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of copending InternationalApplication No. PCT/EP2009/007963, filed Nov. 11, 2009, which isincorporated herein by reference in its entirety, and additionallyclaims priority from US Application No. US 29/343,777, filed Sep. 18,2009, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to boxes using which goods may betransported and which enable a more flexible handling so that, forexample, transported goods may be removed or filled in a simple way.

Transport and storage boxes are available in the market place in aplurality of variations. Here, frequency boxes or crates of arectangular floor space are used whose exterior dimensions are partiallyadjusted to the good to be transported. Further, fruit and vegetablesare partially loaded directly into suitable transport boxes on the fieldin which they are also presented in retail trade in the shelves, and acustomer takes the same directly from the transport box. Also productsalready provided with a packaging are frequently provided for saledirectly in transport boxes in order to keep the number of neededrearrangements in the retail store as low as possible and thus savecosts. Thus, for example, also eggs which are packed into retail sizesof, for example, six or ten pieces are provided directly within theirtransport box on the shelf so that the customer may remove the eggs fromthe transport box.

The boxes are here conventionally provided with rigid side walls so thatloading and unloading the box is done from the top and thus the good tobe transported is loaded into the box from the top or has to be removedfrom the same from the top. This may be disadvantageous with respect tohandling, as, for example, a customer who wants to take the goods fromthe box may only reach the goods with difficulty when the box is, forexample, located in a higher shelf area so that no access from the topto the box is possible. Also when the boxes are stacked to be stored ina space saving way on top of each other, accessing the contents of theboxes is not possible anymore with respect to the lower boxes as theiropening is covered by the boxes on top.

There is thus a need to provide more flexible boxes by which, forexample, loading and unloading goods transported in a box is possiblemore flexibly than before, i.e. the box may all in all be used and isusable in a more flexible way.

SUMMARY

According to an embodiment, a box may have a floor; two opposing shortside walls extending upwards from the floor in a vertical direction; andtwo opposing long side walls extending upwards from the floor in avertical direction; wherein one of the four side walls is implemented asan opening wall which completely covers a side surface area in a closedstate and is movable into an opened state in which the opening wallcovers only a part of the side surface area such that in the openedstate the opening wall is arranged below the floor, wherein one of thelong side walls is implemented as an opening wall; the opening wallswhich are not implemented as an opening wall are mounted movable withrespect to the floor such that the side walls are foldable inwards fromthe vertical position into the direction of the floor so that in adown-folded state the same are in a horizontal position in parallel tothe floor; and the floor, on the opposing side of the short side wallswhich are adjacent to the opening wall, has a fixed floor edge areaeach, extending further down in the vertical direction than the openingwall in its state folded below the floor, so that both in the up-foldedand also in the down-folded state the box may be stacked, independent ofwhether the opening wall is opened or closed in the up-folded state,wherein in the up-folded an in the down-folded state the fixed flooredge area forms a contact surface between stacked boxes.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, an increasedflexibility is guaranteed by a box comprising a floor and four sidewalls opposite to each other in pairs, which extend from the floor in avertical direction upwards, when one of the four side walls is anopening wall. The opening wall which completely covers a side surfacearea in a closed state (in which it extends in a vertical position inthe vertical direction from the floor upwards) may be moved into anopened state in which the opening wall covers only a part of the sidesurface area such that in the opened state the opening wall at leastpartially covers one of the adjacent side walls or the floor.

In a closed state the opening wall is connected to the floor and also tothe adjacent side walls in a non-positive or frictional way. In acompletely opened state, the opening wall is still connected to the box,according to some embodiments, but the same forms no side wall anymorewhich restricts the volume of the box outwards. In the closed state, thebox may be used for transport, wherein in addition to the floor, the boxis restricted by one side wall each on each of its four sides. Theopening wall is, however, at least partially movable from this closedposition or this closed state so that the side surface area which iscompletely covered by the opening wall in the closed state is onlypartially or not at all covered anymore by the opening wall. Thus, inthe opened state, through the side surface area which is not coveredanymore, goods may be removed from the box or goods may be inserted intothe box without needing accessibility from the top. This substantiallyincreases the flexibility of the box, as in this way, for example, aproduct transported by the box may be placed directly into a shelf. Bymoving the opening wall into the opened state, then directly and withoutgreat efforts access to the goods may be achieved without having to paymuch attention to where exactly in the shelf the box is arranged.

It is an advantage here that the opening wall according to someembodiments is not completely separated from the box when opening thesame which would again lead to logistic problems and problems regardinghandling. Rather, the opening wall may be moved into the opened statesuch that the same still remains connected to the box and here, inparticular, partially covers one of the adjacent side walls or the floorof the box. This may be achieved by one of the implementations of theside wall or the mechanics holding and opening the side wall which aredescribed in the following and has the advantage that in its openedposition the opening wall still remains connected to the other parts ofthe box and may thus not be lost. In some embodiments of the presentinvention, the remaining three side walls are further mounted to thefloor collapsibly or foldably, so that the box is foldable by foldingthe three side walls from the vertical position into a horizontalposition in which the same are basically parallel to the floor of thebox and partially cover the same. In some further embodiments of theinvention, the opening wall is movable such that, in the opened state,the same covers the floor or the adjacent side walls such that thefoldability of the three remaining side walls is not interfered with.

According to some embodiments, this is achieved by moving the openingwall, when opening the same, to the side of the floor which is oppositeto the side on which the remaining side walls are located. In someembodiments, the opening wall is brought into an opening position inwhich the same is located in parallel on the bottom side of the flooropposite to the remaining side walls where the same is mounted orarrested. Thus, when the opening wall is open, the rest of the sidewalls may be folded to the top side of the floor, so that as a result acompactly folded box is obtained which, in its folded state, needslittle space and may be transported in a cost-effective way in order tobe refilled again.

An alternative possibility of moving the opening wall is to bring thesame to cover one of the adjacent side walls in the opened state, sothat the corresponding side wall together with the opening wall may befolded onto the surface of the floor and that as a result the completebox remains foldable. In some embodiments, the opening wall is not onlymovable in its entity to completely expose the covered side surfacearea. It is rather possible, according to some embodiments, to move theopening wall only partially in the direction of a completely openedposition, so that access to the goods transported in the box may beincreased in a slow and controlled manner. I.e., in this embodiment theside surface area of the box which is not covered anymore by the openingwall may be varied continuously or in discrete steps. In someembodiments, the opening wall is divided into two or more parts, so thatthe parts may be moved separate from each other and may be brought intoan overlapping position with the adjacent side wall or the floor of thebox separately. Also this, for example, enables the selective exposureof the goods transported or stored in the box.

According to some further embodiments, the boxes are stackable both inthe folded state in which the opening wall is in the opened state andalso in the transport state in which the opening wall is in the closedstate. Thus, the floor has a structure which guarantees that the boxcomprises a fixed floor edge area downwards, i.e. on the side of thefloor facing away from the side walls, which is fixed and extendsdownwards in the vertical direction which enables stackability. In thisrespect, the floor edge area, according to some embodiments of theinvention, extends further in the vertical direction than the openingwall, even when the same is in the opened state. This enables tomaintain stackability of the boxes even when the opening wall is in theopened state below the floor of the box.

According to some embodiments, the side walls or the opening wall eachcomprise locking mechanisms using which the side walls or the openingwall may be locked with neighboring walls when the walls are in thevertical position, so that a high stability of the box may be guaranteedfor transport.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the following, some embodiments of the present invention areexplained in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, inwhich:

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of an inventive box with the opening wall inits closed state;

FIG. 2 shows an embodiment of the box of FIG. 1 with the opening wall inits half-opened state;

FIG. 3 shows an embodiment of the box of FIGS. 1 and 2 with its openingwall in the opened state;

FIG. 4 shows an embodiment of the box of FIGS. 1 to 3 in the downfoldedstate;

FIG. 5 a shows a sectional view through 2 foldes, stacked boxes of FIGS.1 to 4;

FIG. 5 b shows a projectional view of the floor edge area of the box;

FIG. 6 shows a further embodiment of the inventive box; and

FIG. 7 shows a further alternative embodiment of an inventive box.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of a flexibly usable box 10. The box 10includes a floor 12 and four side walls 14 a to 14 d which arerespectively opposite in pairs, which extend from the floor 12 in avertical direction 16 upwards. In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1,all four side walls 14 a to 14 b are approximately of the same height,i.e. extend in the vertical direction 16 by the same distance. This isonly an example, however, and other embodiments may be differentindividually regarding the heights of the side walls 14 a to 14 d. Forexample, side walls which are respectively opposite in pairs maycomprise the same heights or every side wall may have a differentheight.

Due to its constructive particularities, the side wall 14 d forms anopening wall which is illustrated in its closed state in FIG. 1 in whichthe opening wall 14 d closes the box outwards, i.e. covers the completeside surface or area overlays the side surface area. As it is explainedwith respect to the following embodiments, the complete side surfacearea which is covered in its closed state by the opening wall 14 b, orat least a part of this side surface area, may be exposed by the openingwall 14 d, so that through the exposed side surface area which iscovered in its closed state by the opening wall 14 d the interior of thebox may be accessed in order to remove transported goods or to introduceobjects into the box. As it is explained in the following with referenceto FIGS. 2 to 4, the opening wall 14 d may be moved into an opened statefrom the position illustrated in FIG. 1 by the opening wall 14 d onlycovering part of the side surface area such that in the opened state theopening wall 14 d at least partially covers the floor 12.

The opening wall 14 d further comprises a first locking mechanism 18 aand a second locking mechanism 18 b using which the opening wall 14 b inthe closed state may be locked with the respectively adjacent side walls14 a or 14 c to guarantee the stability of the box 10. Likewise, theside walls 14 a and 14 c comprise locking mechanisms 20 a and 20 b usingwhich the side walls 14 a and 14 c may be locked with the side wall 14b. The side walls 14 a, 14 b and 14 c are mounted movable with respectto the floor 12 such that the side walls may be folded from the verticalposition illustrated in FIG. 1 inwards into the direction onto thefloor, so that in a folded down state the same are in a substantiallyhorizontal position in parallel to the floor 12 as it is illustrated inFIG. 4. Inside or interior here in the following relates to the areawhich is enclosed by the side walls 14 a to 14 d in the closed state ofthe box, i.e. into which the goods to be transported may be introducedinto the box. All directions are referred to as horizontal which areapproximately arranged perpendicularly on the vertical direction 16,i.e. all directions which are in parallel to the plane defined by thefloor 12.

In order to enable foldability of the side walls 14 a to 14 c, at thepositions of the first side wall 14 a, the second side wall 14 b and thethird side wall 14 c the floor 12 of each comprises a fixed floor edgearea 22 a, 22 b, 22 c extending upwards in the vertical direction 16,wherein the floor edge areas 22 a and 22 c associated with the opposingside walls 14 a and 14 c extend less high into the vertical direction 16than the floor edge area 22 b of the side wall 14 b. At the top end ofthe floor edge areas, the side walls 14 a, 14 b and 14 c are eachmounted to the floor 12 or the associated edge areas 22 a to 22 c bymeans of hinges. This leads to the fact that in the folded down stateillustrated in FIG. 4 the side walls 14 a to 14 c are basically in ahorizontal position in parallel to the floor, wherein each of the sidewalls at least partially covers the floor. The embodiments of theinvention described in FIGS. 1 to 4 further comprise an opening wall 14d which is movable such that in its opened state it is completelyarranged on the side of the floor 12 opposite to the remaining sidewalls 14 a to 14 c. As it is illustrated with respect to FIGS. 2 and 3,the side wall, after the lockings 18 and 18 b have been released, may befolded or tilted outwards so that after tilting it is in a horizontalposition in parallel to the floor. From this position, as it isillustrated in FIG. 2, the side wall may be slided or inserted below thefloor in the insertion direction 24, so that after a complete insertionit is located in the position below the floor illustrated in FIG. 3,i.e. the opening wall 14 d is located on the side of the floor oppositeto the remaining side walls 14 a to 14 c.

Thus it is enabled in the position illustrated in FIG. 3 to remove goodsfrom the box or load the same into the box without access from the tophaving to be possible.

At the same time it is guaranteed by tilting the side wall outwards andshifting it below the floor, that when opening and closing the openingwall the interior volume of the box, i.e. its interior area is notinterfered with so that even when the box is fully loaded the openingwall 14 d may be opened.

Although in FIGS. 1 to 3 only one opening wall 14 d is illustrated, itis also possible in alternative embodiments to provide a further openingwall, for example, provide the side wall 14 b as a further opening wall,so that alternatively either the side wall 14 b or the side wall 14 dmay be used as an opening wall.

At the same time, according to further alternative embodiments, theremaining side walls apart from the opening wall are rigid, i.e. thesame are not implemented foldably.

Foldability of the side walls 14 a to 14 c offers the additionaladvantage that the box, when the opening wall 14 b is in the openedstate and the side walls 14 a to 14 c are folded down, only needs asmall volume and may be transported in its empty state in an easy andcost effective way. To enable stackability of the boxes both in theupfolded and also in the downfolded state illustrated in FIG. 4, thefloor 12, on the side opposite to the side walls 14 a to 14 c, comprisesfixed floor edge areas each extending in the vertical direction 16downwards which, as may be gathered from FIGS. 3 and 4 and in particularFIG. 5 extend down in the vertical direction further than the openingwall 14 d in its opened state. This may in particular be gathered fromFIG. 5 which illustrates a section through two boxes stacked on top ofeach other in their downfolded state, wherein the section passes alongthe sectional line 30 illustrated in FIG. 4.

As it is illustrated in the sectional view of FIG. 5 a, the fixed flooredge area 32 opposite to the side walls 14 a and 14 c extends furtherdownwards in the vertical direction 16 than the opening wall in itsopened state folded in below the floor. This leads to the fact that thebox 10 may be stacked both in its opened and also in its downfoldedstate independent of whether the opening wall is opened or closed in itsopened state, as the floor 12 or its lower fixed floor edge area may beused as a contact surface.

As it may also be gathered from FIG. 5, in the embodiment described inFIGS. 1 to 4, the opening wall 14 d may be slid or pushed below thefloor 12 after folding the same down. For this purpose, on therespectively opposing fixed sides of the lower floor edge areas locatedopposite to the side walls 14 a and 14 c, the floor 12 comprises groovesor slots in which the opening wall 14 d is guided.

FIG. 5 b schematically shows a projectional view of the fixed floor edgearea associated with the side wall 14 a. This is a view from thedirection 40 illustrated in FIG. 4.

A section through the floor 12 and a view of the fixed floor edge area22 a extending in a vertical direction upwards and of the fixed flooredge area 32 extending in the vertical direction downwards isillustrated. In the floor edge area 32 extending downwards a guidinggroove or slots (groove) 42 is arranged in which the opening wall 14 dmay be guided when shifting the same below the floor 12. In theembodiment illustrated in FIG. 5 b, for this purpose the opening wall 14d may, for example, comprise a bolt which extends from the direction 40from the opening wall 14 b and engages the groove 42. If the guidinggroove 42, as illustrated in FIG. 5 b, is closed toward the top in thedirection of the opening wall 14, i.e. at its end 44 in the verticaldirection 16, so that via the bolt of the opening wall in the upfoldedstate power may be transferred to the floor 12. As far as the guidinggroove 42 is also closed forward, i.e. in the horizontal direction 45,it is prevented for the opening wall to be detachable from the rest ofthe box.

FIG. 6 shows a further embodiment of an inventive box also comprising afloor 12 and four side walls 14 a to 14 d which are opposite in pairs inthe closed state of the box. In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 6,the side wall 14 d forming the opening wall includes a plurality oflamellae arranged on top of each other in the vertical direction so thatthe opening wall 14 d may be moved continuously or in discrete steps inand opposite to the vertical direction 16 in order to completely orpartially expose the side surface area. Here, the side surface area,just like already in the previous embodiments, is to be the area whichmay at maximum be exposed, in other words the surface covered by theopening wall 14 d in the completely closed state.

In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 6, the opening wall 14 dconsisting of lamellae is thus movable such that the opening wall in theopened state is completely located on the side of the floor 12 oppositeto the remaining side walls 14 a, 14 b and 14 c. Here, the opening wall14 d consisting of lamellae may, for example, be guided in grooves 42 onthe bottom side of the floor 12, as it is, for example, illustrated withrespect to FIG. 5 b. Further, the opening wall 14 d may for example alsobe guided in grooves in the side walls 14 a and 14 c. With respect tothe embodiment illustrated in FIG. 6, it is also advantageous that inthe opened state the opening wall partially covers the floor 12, i.e.remains connected with the box so that the volume taken up by the box isnot increased by moving the opening wall into the opened state Likewise,in the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 6 there is optionally thepossibility to implement the side walls 14 a, 14 b and 14 c in afoldable way.

FIG. 7 shows a further alternative embodiment of a flexible box whichalso comprises a floor 12 and side walls 14 a, 14 b, 14 c and 14 d whichare opposite to each other in pairs in the closed state, wherein theside wall 14 d is configured as an opening wall.

In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 7, the opening wall may be dividedinto a first wall area 50 a and a second wall area 50 b, each comprisinga plurality of lamellae passing perpendicular in the vertical direction.In the opened state, the first side wall area 50 a at least partiallycovers the side wall 14 a and the second side wall area 50 b at leastpartially covers the side wall 14 c. Of course, also only one of thewall areas 50 a or 50 b may be opened, so that only one of the wallareas partially or completely covers the corresponding side wall 14 a or14 c. Also in this embodiment, the opening wall is implemented such thatin the opened state the opening wall 14 d at least partially orcompletely covers one of the adjacent side surfaces 14 a or 14 c sothat, if applicable, the side walls may optionally be configuredfoldably.

As an alternative to the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 7, the openingwall may also consist of only one element again formed from severallamellae, so that in the opened state only one of the side walls 14 a or14 c is partially covered by the opening wall.

Although, in the previous embodiments mainly vegetable or fruit boxes orboxes intended to transport contents of retail trade were discussed, theinventive concept is of course also suitable for any other type ofcontainers. For example, box pallets, containers or freight containersmay be implemented as boxes within the scope of the description above,so that via the opening wall an alternative type of access to theinterior volume of the containers or boxes results.

Additionally, tool or beverage boxes or generally any alternative cases,crates or the like may be implemented with opening walls according tothe previous embodiments.

Further, the geometry of the boxes is of course not restricted to therectangular floor plans discussed above. Alternatively, the boxes may beused with any number of side walls, like for example triangular boxes,pentagonal, hexagonal or generally speaking boxes of any number of sidewalls may be used.

In alternative embodiments, apart from that the boxes are not openedtoward the top but have a lid which closes the box toward the top. Whenusing the inventive opening walls, the flexible use of the box is stillguaranteed when the same comprise a lid. In these embodiments the lidsconnected to the four or any number of side walls at the side oppositeto the floor, may be connected to the box in a fixed or detachable way.

While this invention has been described in terms of several embodiments,there are alterations, permutations, and equivalents which fall withinthe scope of this invention. It should also be noted that there are manyalternative ways of implementing the methods and compositions of thepresent invention. It is therefore intended that the following appendedclaims be interpreted as including all such alterations, permutationsand equivalents as fall within the true spirit and scope of the presentinvention.

1. A box, comprising: a floor; two opposing short side walls extendingupwards from the floor in a vertical direction; and two opposing longside walls extending upwards from the floor in a vertical direction;wherein one of the four side walls is implemented as an opening wallwhich completely covers a side surface area in a closed state and ismovable into an opened state in which the opening wall covers only apart of the side surface area such that in the opened state the openingwall is arranged below the floor, wherein one of the long side walls isimplemented as an opening wall; the side walls which are not implementedas an opening wall are mounted movable with respect to the floor suchthat the side walls are foldable inwards from the vertical position intothe direction of the floor so that in a down-folded state the same arein a horizontal position in parallel to the floor; and the floor, on theopposing side of the short side walls which are adjacent to the openingwall, comprises a fixed floor edge area each, extending further down inthe vertical direction than the opening wall in its state folded belowthe floor, so that both in the up-folded and also in the down-foldedstate the box may be stacked, independent of whether the opening wall isopened or closed in the up-folded state, wherein in the up-folded an inthe down-folded state the fixed floor edge area forms a contact surfacebetween stacked boxes.
 2. The box according to claim 1, wherein in theopened state the opening wall is arranged in parallel to the floor. 3.The box according to claim 1, wherein the fixed floor edge areascomprise a guiding groove at the respectively opposing surfaces in whichthe opening wall is guided when moving into the opened state.
 4. The boxaccording to claim 3, wherein the opening wall comprises a shaft whichextends into the guiding groove.
 5. The box according to claim 4,wherein the guiding groove is closed toward the top in the horizontaldirection and in the vertical direction at its ends adjacent to the sidesurface area, so that the shaft may not leave the guiding groove and inthe vertical direction a non-positive connection between the shaft andthe groove is acquired.
 6. The box according to claim 1, wherein theopening wall is connected to the floor, such that the opening wall maybe tilted outwards from the position extending upwards in the verticalposition into a position passing in parallel to the floor of the box. 7.The box according to claim 1, wherein the opening wall comprises atleast two locking mechanisms wherein each of the locking mechanisms isconfigured to lock the opening wall in the closed state to one each ofthe adjacent short side walls.